The West Maui Mountains or West Maui Volcano, the correct name as given by the native Hawaiian people is Mauna Kahalewai [2], which means "holding house of water,"[3] is approximately 1.7 million years old[4] and forms a much erodedshield volcano that constitutes the western one-quarter of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. Since its last eruption approximately 320,000 years ago, the West Maui Mountains have undergone substantial stream erosion.[5]

The three moku or districts of west Maui are Lāhaina, Kāʻanapali, and Wailuku.[6] Wailuku is also known as Pūʻalikomohana, or Nā Wai ʻEhā which means the four waters. The 4 waters are the ahupuaʻa (smaller land division than district), which are Waikapū, Wailuku, Waiʻehu, and Waiheʻe.

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Established in 1988, the Puʻu Kukui Preserve is the largest private nature preserve in the State of Hawaii. Since 1994, the 8,661-acre (35.05 km2) preserve has been managed by Maui Land & Pineapple Company in participation with The Nature Conservancy and the State Natural Area Partnership. These groups work together to protect the watershed lands of the West Maui mountain.

The West Maui Mountains were formed through at least three series of major volcanic eruptions during its shield building period. [5] The mountains used to be over 13,000 feet high, but has collapsed and eroded down to a much smaller 5,100 feet.[citation needed] Rocks from the latest major shield-building eruptions are called the Honolua volcanics, which are roughly 500,000 years old. However, there were several re-juvenated stage eruptions more recently, the last dating to roughly 320,000 years ago.[5]

1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder

2.
Topographic prominence
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It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak

3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

4.
Maui
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The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles and is the 17th-largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the State of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui Countys four islands, bigger than Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, in 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444, third-highest of the Hawaiian Islands, behind that of Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island. Kahului is the largest census-designated place on the island with a population of 26,337 as of 2010 and is the commercial and financial hub of the island, Wailuku is the seat of Maui County and is the third-largest CDP as of 2010. Other significant places include Kīhei, Lahaina, Makawao, Pukalani, Pāʻia, Kula, Haʻikū, native Hawaiian tradition gives the origin of the islands name in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. According to that legend, Hawaiʻiloa named the island of Maui after his son, the earlier name of Maui was ʻIhikapalaumaewa. The Island of Maui is also called the Valley Isle for the isthmus between its northwestern and southeastern volcanoes and the numerous large valleys carved into both mountains. Mauis diverse landscapes are the result of a combination of geology, topography. Each volcanic cone in the chain of the Hawaiian Islands is built of dark, iron-rich/quartz-poor rocks, several of the volcanoes were close enough to each other that lava flows on their flanks overlapped one another, merging into a single island. Maui is such a volcanic doublet, formed from two shield volcanoes that overlapped one another to form an isthmus between them, the older, western volcano has been eroded considerably and is cut by numerous drainages, forming the peaks of the West Maui Mountains. Puʻu Kukui is the highest of the peaks at 5,788 feet. The larger, younger volcano to the east, Haleakalā, rises to more than 10,000 feet above sea level, the eastern flanks of both volcanoes are cut by deeply incised valleys and steep-sided ravines that run downslope to the rocky, windswept shoreline. The valley-like Isthmus of Maui that separates the two volcanic masses was formed by sandy erosional deposits, although considered to be dormant by volcanologists, Haleakalā is certainly capable of further eruptions. Maui is part of a larger unit, Maui Nui, that includes the islands of Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Molokaʻi. During periods of reduced sea level, including as recently as 20,000 years ago and this, and the extreme insularity of the Hawaiian Islands account for the strong marine influence on Mauis climate. Gross weather patterns are determined by elevation and orientation towards the Trade winds. Mauis rugged, irregular topography produces marked variations in conditions, air swept inland on the Trade winds is shunted one way or another by the mountains, valleys, and vast open slopes. This complex three-dimensional flow of air results in striking variations in speed, cloud formation. Maui displays a unique and diverse set of conditions, each of which is specific to a loosely defined sub-region of the island

5.
Hawaii
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Hawaii is the 50th and most recent state to have joined the United States of America, having received statehood on August 21,1959. Hawaii is the only U. S. state located in Oceania and it is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean. Hawaii is the only U. S. state not located in the Americas, the state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian archipelago, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles. At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight main islands are—in order from northwest to southeast, Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the Island of Hawaiʻi. The last is the largest island in the group, it is called the Big Island or Hawaiʻi Island to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania, Hawaii has over a million permanent residents, along with many visitors and U. S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii is the 8th-smallest and the 11th-least populous, but the 13th-most densely populated of the fifty U. S. states. It is the state with an Asian plurality. The states coastline is about 750 miles long, the fourth longest in the U. S. after the coastlines of Alaska, Florida, the state of Hawaii derives its name from the name of its largest island, Hawaiʻi. A common Hawaiian explanation of the name of Hawaiʻi is that was named for Hawaiʻiloa and he is said to have discovered the islands when they were first settled. The Hawaiian language word Hawaiʻi is very similar to Proto-Polynesian *Sawaiki, cognates of Hawaiʻi are found in other Polynesian languages, including Māori, Rarotongan and Samoan. According to linguists Pukui and Elbert, lsewhere in Polynesia, Hawaiʻi or a cognate is the name of the underworld or of the home, but in Hawaii. A somewhat divisive political issue arose in 1978 when the Constitution of the State of Hawaii added Hawaiian as an official state language. The title of the constitution is The Constitution of the State of Hawaii. Article XV, Section 1 of the Constitution uses The State of Hawaii, diacritics were not used because the document, drafted in 1949, predates the use of the okina and the kahakō in modern Hawaiian orthography. The exact spelling of the name in the Hawaiian language is Hawaiʻi. In the Hawaii Admission Act that granted Hawaiian statehood, the government recognized Hawaii as the official state name. Official government publications, department and office titles, and the Seal of Hawaii use the spelling with no symbols for glottal stops or vowel length

6.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift

7.
Hawaiian Islands
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Formerly the group was known to Europeans and Americans as the Sandwich Islands, a name chosen by James Cook in honor of the then First Lord of the Admiralty John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The contemporary name is derived from the name of the largest island, the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in 1893 and the United States annexed the islands in 1898. The Hawaiian Islands are the peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain. The islands are about 1,860 miles from the nearest continent and this name was in use until the 1840s, when the local name Hawaii gradually began to take precedence. The Hawaiian Islands have a land area of 6,423.4 square miles. Except for Midway, which is a territory of the United States. The eight main islands of Hawaii are listed here and this number includes all minor islands and islets, or very small island, offshore of the main islands and individual islets in each atoll. Thus, the southeast island is volcanically active, whereas the islands on the northwest end of the archipelago are older and typically smaller, the age of the archipelago has been estimated using potassium-argon dating methods.4 Ma. The only active volcanism in the last 200 years has been on the island, Hawaiʻi. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory of the USGS documents recent volcanic activity and provides images, almost all of the magma of the hotspot has the composition of basalt, and so the Hawaiian volcanoes are composed almost entirely of this igneous rock. There is very little coarser-grained gabbro and diabase, nephelinite is exposed on the islands but is extremely rare. Hawaiʻi island is the biggest and youngest island in the chain, mauna Loa, taking up over half of the Big Island, is the largest shield volcano on the Earth. The measurement from sea level to summit is more than 2.5 miles, the Hawaiian Islands have many earthquakes, generally caused by volcanic activity. Most of the earthquake monitoring took place in Hilo, by missionaries Titus Coan, Sarah J. Lyman. From 1833 to 1896, approximately 4 or 5 earthquakes were reported per year, Hawaii accounted for 7. 3% of the United States reported earthquakes with a magnitude 3.5 or greater from 1974 to 2003, with a total 1533 earthquakes. Hawaii ranked as the state with the third most earthquakes over this period, after Alaska. On October 15,2006, there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 off the northwest coast of the island of Hawaii, the initial earthquake was followed approximately five minutes later by a magnitude 5.7 aftershock. Minor-to-moderate damage was reported on most of the Big Island, several major roadways became impassable from rock slides, and effects were felt as far away as Honolulu, Oahu, nearly 150 miles from the epicenter

8.
Topographic map
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Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features. A topographic map is published as a map series, made up of two or more map sheets that combine to form the whole map. A contour line is a line connecting places of equal elevation, however, in the vernacular and day to day world, the representation of relief is popularly held to define the genre, such that even small-scale maps showing relief are commonly called topographic. The study or discipline of topography is a broader field of study. Topographic maps are based on topographical surveys, performed at large scales, these surveys are called topographical in the old sense of topography, showing a variety of elevations and landforms. This is in contrast to older cadastral surveys, which primarily show property, the first multi-sheet topographic map series of an entire country, the Carte géométrique de la France, was completed in 1789. Topographic surveys were prepared by the military to assist in planning for battle, as such, elevation information was of vital importance. As they evolved, topographic map series became a resource in modern nations in planning infrastructure. Excluding borders, each sheet was 44 cm high and up to 66 cm wide, although the project eventually foundered, it left an indexing system that remains in use. TIGER was developed in the 1980s and used in the 1990, digital elevation models were also compiled, initially from topographic maps and stereographic interpretation of aerial photographs and then from satellite photography and radar data. Since all these were government projects funded with taxes and not classified for security reasons. Initial applications were mostly professionalized forms such as innovative surveying instruments, by the mid-1990s, increasingly user-friendly resources such as online mapping in two and three dimensions, integration of GPS with mobile phones and automotive navigation systems appeared. As of 2011, the future of standardized, centrally printed topographical maps is left somewhat in doubt, the various features shown on the map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads and these signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet. Topographic maps are commonly called contour maps or topo maps. In the United States, where the national series is organized by a strict 7. 5-minute grid. Topographic maps conventionally show topography, or land contours, by means of contour lines, contour lines are curves that connect contiguous points of the same altitude. In other words, every point on the line of 100 m elevation is 100 m above mean sea level

9.
United States Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database

10.
Geologic time scale
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The table of geologic time spans, presented here, agrees with the nomenclature, dates and standard color codes set forth by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Evidence from radiometric dating indicates that Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, the geology or deep time of Earth’s past has been organized into various units according to events which took place in each period. Older time spans, which predate the reliable record, are defined by their absolute age. Some other planets and moons within the Solar System have sufficiently rigid structures to have preserved records of their own histories, for example, Venus, Mars, dominantly fluid planets, such as the gas giants, do not preserve their history in a comparable manner. Apart from the Late Heavy Bombardment, events on other planets probably had little influence on the Earth. Construction of a scale that links the planets is, therefore, of only limited relevance to the Earths time scale. The existence, timing, and terrestrial effects of the Late Heavy Bombardment is still debated, the largest defined unit of time is the supereon, composed of eons. Eons are divided into eras, which are in turn divided into periods, epochs, the terms eonothem, erathem, system, series, and stage are used to refer to the layers of rock that correspond to these periods of geologic time in Earths history. Geologists qualify these units as early, mid, and late when referring to time, and lower, middle, for example, the lower Jurassic Series in chronostratigraphy corresponds to the early Jurassic Epoch in geochronology. The adjectives are capitalized when the subdivision is formally recognized, and lower case when not, thus early Miocene but Early Jurassic. Geologic units from the time but different parts of the world often look different and contain different fossils. For example, in North America the Lower Cambrian is called the Waucoban series that is subdivided into zones based on succession of trilobites. In East Asia and Siberia, the unit is split into Alexian, Atdabanian. A key aspect of the work of the International Commission on Stratigraphy is to reconcile this conflicting terminology, the term Anthropocene is used informally by popular culture and a growing number of scientists to describe the current epoch in which we are living. The term was coined by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000 to describe the current time, others say that humans have not even started to leave their biggest impact on Earth, and therefore the Anthropocene hasnt even started yet. Whatever the case, the ICS has not officially approved the term, leonardo da Vinci concurred with Aristotles interpretation that fossils represented the remains of ancient life. The 11th-century Persian geologist Avicenna and the 13th-century Dominican bishop Albertus Magnus extended Aristotles explanation into a theory of a petrifying fluid. Avicenna also first proposed one of the principles underlying geologic time scales, the Chinese naturalist Shen Kuo also recognized the concept of deep time

11.
Mega-annum
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A year is the orbital period of the Earth moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earths axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by changes in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions around the globe, four seasons are recognized, spring, summer, autumn. In tropical and subtropical regions several geographical sectors do not present defined seasons, but in the seasonal tropics, a calendar year is an approximation of the number of days of the Earths orbital period as counted in a given calendar. The Gregorian, or modern, calendar, presents its calendar year to be either a common year of 365 days or a year of 366 days, as do the Julian calendars. For the Gregorian calendar the average length of the year across the complete leap cycle of 400 years is 365.2425 days. The ISO standard ISO 80000-3, Annex C, supports the symbol a to represent a year of either 365 or 366 days, in English, the abbreviations y and yr are commonly used. In astronomy, the Julian year is a unit of time, it is defined as 365.25 days of exactly 86400 seconds, totalling exactly 31557600 seconds in the Julian astronomical year. The word year is used for periods loosely associated with, but not identical to, the calendar or astronomical year, such as the seasonal year, the fiscal year. Similarly, year can mean the period of any planet, for example. The term can also be used in reference to any long period or cycle, west Saxon ġēar, Anglian ġēr continues Proto-Germanic *jǣran. Cognates are German Jahr, Old High German jār, Old Norse ár and Gothic jer, all the descendants of the Proto-Indo-European noun *yeh₁rom year, season. Cognates also descended from the same Proto-Indo-European noun are Avestan yārǝ year, Greek ὥρα year, season, period of time, Old Church Slavonic jarŭ, Latin annus is from a PIE noun *h₂et-no-, which also yielded Gothic aþn year. Both *yeh₁-ro- and *h₂et-no- are based on verbal roots expressing movement, *h₁ey- and *h₂et- respectively, the Greek word for year, ἔτος, is cognate with Latin vetus old, from the PIE word *wetos- year, also preserved in this meaning in Sanskrit vat-sa- yearling and vat-sa-ras year. Derived from Latin annus are a number of English words, such as annual, annuity, anniversary, etc. per annum means each year, anno Domini means in the year of the Lord. No astronomical year has an number of days or lunar months. Financial and scientific calculations often use a 365-day calendar to simplify daily rates, in the Julian calendar, the average length of a year is 365.25 days. In a non-leap year, there are 365 days, in a year there are 366 days

12.
Shield volcano
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A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their low profile, resembling a warriors shield lying on the ground and this is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from stratovolcanoes. This results in the accumulation of broad sheets of lava. The shape of shield volcanoes is due to the low viscosity of their mafic lava, Shield volcanoes are built by effusive eruptions, which flow out in all directions to create a shield like that of a warrior. Shield volcano itself is taken from the German term Schildvulkan, examples of pyroclastic shields include Billy Mitchell volcano in Papua New Guinea and the Purico Complex in Chile, an example of a felsic shield is the Big Obsidian Flow in Oregon. Active shield volcanoes experience near-continuous eruptive activity over long periods of time. Mount Everest, by comparison, is 8,848 m in height, the research has not yet been confirmed. Shield volcanoes feature a slope that gradually steepens with elevation before eventually flattening near the summit. In height they are typically about one twentieth their width, although the general form of a typical shield volcano varies little worldwide regional differences exist in their size and morphological characteristics. 4° and an average volume of 1.7 km3. Rift zones are a prevalent feature on shield volcanoes that is rare on other volcanic types, the large, decentralized shape of Hawaiian volcanoes as compared to their smaller, symmetrical Icelandic cousins can be attributed to rift eruptions. Fissure venting is common in Hawaiʻi, most Hawaiian eruptions begin with a wall of fire along a major fissure line before centralizing to a small number of points. These eruptions, the calmest of volcanic events, are characterized by the emission of highly fluid basaltic lavas with low gaseous content. These lavas travel a far greater distance than those of other types before solidifying, forming extremely wide. Low volumes of such lavas layered over long periods of time are what slowly constructs the characteristically low, central-vent eruptions, meanwhile, often take the form of large lava fountains, which can reach heights of hundreds of meters or more. If eruptive rates are enough, they may even form splatter-fed lava flows. Hawaiian eruptions are often extremely long lived, Puʻu ʻŌʻō, a cone of Kilauea, has been erupting continuously since 1983. These lava flows can be anywhere between 2 and 20 m thick, pāhoehoe flows, in contrast, move in more conventional sheets, or by the advancement of lava toes in snaking lava columns. Increasing viscosity on the part of the lava or shear stress on the part of local topography can morph a pāhoehoe flow into an aa one, although most shield volcanoes are by volume almost entirely Hawaiian and basaltic in origin, they are rarely exclusively so

13.
Volcanic arc
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A volcanic arc is a chain of volcanoes formed above a subducting plate, positioned in an arc shape as seen from above. Offshore volcanoes form islands, resulting in an island arc. Generally, volcanic arcs result from the subduction of a tectonic plate under another tectonic plate. The oceanic plate is saturated with water, and volatiles such as water drastically lower the point of the mantle. As the oceanic plate is subducted, it is subjected to greater and greater pressures with increasing depth and this pressure squeezes water out of the plate and introduces it to the mantle. Here the mantle melts and forms magma at depth under the overriding plate, the magma ascends to form an arc of volcanoes parallel to the subduction zone. The Hawaiian Islands form a typical hotspot chain, the islands to the northwest are smaller and more lush than the recently created Hawaii island itself. Hotspot volcanoes are known as intra-plate volcanoes, and the islands they create are known as Volcanic Ocean Islands. Volcanic arcs do not generally such a simple age-pattern. There are two types of volcanic arcs, oceanic arcs form when oceanic crust subducts beneath other oceanic crust on an adjacent plate, continental arcs form when oceanic crust subducts beneath continental crust on an adjacent plate, creating an arc-shaped mountain belt. In some situations, a subduction zone may show both aspects along its length, as part of a plate subducts beneath a continent and part beneath adjacent oceanic crust. Volcanoes are present in almost any mountain belt, but this does not make it a volcanic arc, often there are isolated, but impressively huge volcanoes in a mountain belt. For instance, Vesuvius and the Etna volcanoes in Italy are part of separate, the active front of a volcanic arc is the belt where volcanism develops at a given time. Active fronts may move over time, changing their distance from the trench as well as their width. This loss of water is due to the destabilization of the mineral chlorite at approximately 40–60 km depth. On the subducting side of the arc is a deep and narrow oceanic trench. This trench is created by the pull of the relatively dense subducting plate pulling the leading edge of the plate downward. Multiple earthquakes occur along this boundary with the seismic hypocenters located at increasing depth under the island arc

14.
Volcanic belt
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A volcanic belt is a large volcanically active region. Other terms are used for areas of activity, such as volcanic fields. Volcanic belts are found above zones of high temperature where magma is created by partial melting of solid material in the Earths crust. These areas usually form along tectonic plate boundaries at depths of 10–50 km, the deeply deformed and eroded remnants of ancient volcanic belts are found in volcanically inactive regions such as the Canadian Shield. It contains over 150 volcanic belts that range from 600 to 1200 million years old and these are zones of variably metamorphosed mafic to ultramafic volcanic sequences with associated sedimentary rocks that form what are known as greenstone belts. They are thought to have formed at ancient oceanic spreading centers, the Abitibi greenstone belt in Ontario and Quebec, Canada is one of the worlds largest greenstone belts. Volcanic belts may be formed by multiple tectonic settings, an oceanic plate ordinarily slides underneath a continental plate, this often creates an orogenic zone with many volcanoes and earthquakes. In a sense, subduction zones are the opposite of divergent boundaries, areas where material rises up from the mantle, Volcanic belts may also be formed by hotspots, which is a location on the Earths surface that has experienced active volcanism for a long period of time. These volcanic belts are called volcanic chains, but more recently some geologists, such as Gillian Foulger view upper-mantle convection as a cause. This in turn has re-raised the antipodal pair impact hypothesis, the idea that pairs of opposite hot spots may result from the impact of a large meteor. Geologists have identified some 40-50 such hotspots around the globe, with Hawaii, Réunion, Yellowstone, Galápagos, and Iceland overlying the most currently active. An example of a volcanic belt is the Anahim Volcanic Belt in British Columbia, Canada. Most hotspot volcanoes are basaltic because they erupt through oceanic lithosphere, as a result, they are less explosive than subduction zone volcanoes, which have high water contents. Where hotspots occur under continental crust, basaltic magma is trapped in the less dense continental crust and these rhyolites can be quite hot and form violent eruptions, despite their low water content. For example, the Yellowstone Caldera was formed by some of the most powerful explosions in geologic history. Andean Volcanic Belt Garibaldi Volcanic Belt Taupo Volcanic Zone Plate tectonics

15.
Types of volcanic eruptions
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Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra, and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior has been observed, some volcanoes may exhibit only one characteristic type of eruption during a period of activity, while others may display an entire sequence of types all in one eruptive series. There are three different types of eruptions, the most well-observed are magmatic eruptions, which involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatomagmatic eruptions are another type of eruption, driven by the compression of gas within magma. Within these wide-defining eruptive types are several subtypes, the weakest are Hawaiian and submarine, then Strombolian, followed by Vulcanian and Surtseyan. The stronger eruptive types are Pelean eruptions, followed by Plinian eruptions, subglacial and phreatic eruptions are defined by their eruptive mechanism, and vary in strength. An important measure of strength is Volcanic Explosivity Index, an order of magnitude scale ranging from 0 to 8 that often correlates to eruptive types. Explosive eruptions are characterized by gas-driven explosions that propels magma and tephra, effusive eruptions, meanwhile, are characterized by the outpouring of lava without significant explosive eruption. Volcanic eruptions vary widely in strength, on the one extreme there are effusive Hawaiian eruptions, which are characterized by lava fountains and fluid lava flows, which are typically not very dangerous. On the other extreme, Plinian eruptions are large, violent, volcanoes are not bound to one eruptive style, and frequently display many different types, both passive and explosive, even the span of a single eruptive cycle. Volcanoes do not always erupt vertically from a crater near their peak. Some volcanoes exhibit lateral and fissure eruptions, notably, many Hawaiian eruptions start from rift zones, and some of the strongest Surtseyan eruptions develop along fracture zones. Scientists believed that pulses of magma mixed together in the chamber before climbing upward—a process estimated to several thousands of years. But Columbia University volcanologists found that the eruption of Costa Rica’s Irazú Volcano in 1963 was likely triggered by magma that took a route from the mantle over just a few months. The volcanic explosivity index is a scale, from 0 to 8 and it is used by the Smithsonian Institutions Global Volcanism Program in assessing the impact of historic and prehistoric lava flows. It operates in a way similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, the vast majority of volcanic eruptions are of VEIs between 0 and 2. Volcanic eruptions by VEI index Magmatic eruptions produce juvenile clasts during explosive decompression from gas release, Hawaiian eruptions are a type of volcanic eruption, named after the Hawaiian volcanoes with which this eruptive type is hallmark. Hawaiian eruptions are the calmest types of events, characterized by the effusive eruption of very fluid basalt-type lavas with low gaseous content

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Erosion
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In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that remove soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earths crust, then transport it away to another location. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, the rates at which such processes act control how fast a surface is eroded. Feedbacks are also possible between rates of erosion and the amount of eroded material that is carried by, for example. Processes of erosion that produce sediment or solutes from a place contrast with those of deposition, while erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. At well-known agriculture sites such as the Appalachian Mountains, intensive farming practices have caused erosion up to 100x the speed of the rate of erosion in the region. Excessive erosion causes both on-site and off-site problems, on-site impacts include decreases in agricultural productivity and ecological collapse, both because of loss of the nutrient-rich upper soil layers. In some cases, the end result is desertification. Off-site effects include sedimentation of waterways and eutrophication of bodies, as well as sediment-related damage to roads. Intensive agriculture, deforestation, roads, anthropogenic climate change and urban sprawl are amongst the most significant human activities in regard to their effect on stimulating erosion, however, there are many prevention and remediation practices that can curtail or limit erosion of vulnerable soils. Rainfall, and the surface runoff which may result from rainfall, produces four types of soil erosion, splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion. Splash erosion is generally seen as the first and least severe stage in the erosion process. In splash erosion, the impact of a falling raindrop creates a crater in the soil. The distance these soil particles travel can be as much as 0.6 m vertically and 1.5 m horizontally on level ground. If the soil is saturated, or if the rate is greater than the rate at which water can infiltrate into the soil. If the runoff has sufficient flow energy, it will transport loosened soil particles down the slope, sheet erosion is the transport of loosened soil particles by overland flow. Rill erosion refers to the development of small, ephemeral concentrated flow paths which function as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes, generally, where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Flow depths in rills are typically of the order of a few centimetres or less and this means that rills exhibit hydraulic physics very different from water flowing through the deeper, wider channels of streams and rivers. Gully erosion occurs when water accumulates and rapidly flows in narrow channels during or immediately after heavy rains or melting snow

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Lahaina, Hawaii
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Lāhainā is the largest census-designated place in West Maui, Maui County, Hawaii, United States, and the gateway to the Kaanapali and Kapalua beach resorts to its north. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a resident population of 11,704, Lahaina encompasses the coast along Hawaii Route 30 from a tunnel at the south end, through Olawalu, and to the CDP of Napili-Honokowai to the north. During the tourist season, the population can swell to nearly 40,000 people, there are many different climates in the different districts of Lahaina. The historic district is the driest and calmest and hosts the small boat harbor, Kaanapali is north of a wind line and has double the annual rainfall and frequent breezes. The Kapalua and Napili areas have almost four times the annual rainfall compared to the district of Lahaina. The historic district has preserved 60 historic sites within a small area, Lahaina was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1820 to 1845, when the capital was moved back to Honolulu. In the 19th century, Lahaina was the center of the whaling industry, with many sailing ships anchoring at its waterfront. Lahainas Front Street has been ranked one of the Top Ten Greatest Streets by the American Planning Association, lahainas popularity as a tropical getaway has made its real estate some of the most expensive in Hawaii, many luxury homes and condos are sold for more than $2 million there. In antiquity Lahaina was the capital of Maui Loa, aliʻi nui of the island of Maui. In Lahaina, the focus of activity is along Front Street and it is lined with stores and restaurants and often packed with tourists. Banyan Tree Square features a large banyan tree planted by William Owen Smith on April 24,1873. It is also the site of the ruins of Lahaina Fort. Lele was an ancient name of Lahaina, the name Lā hainā means cruel sun in the Hawaiian language, describing the sunny dry climate. Lahaina averages only 13 inches of rain per year, much of which occurs from December to February, in 1795, before unification of the islands, the town was conquered by Kamehameha the Great. Lahaina was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1820 to 1845, king Kamehameha III, son of Kamehameha I, preferred the town to bustling Honolulu. In 1824, at the chiefs request, Betsey Stockton started the first mission school open to the common people and it was once an important destination for the 19th-century whaling fleet, whose presence at Lahaina frequently led to conflicts with the Christian missionaries living there. On more than one occasion the conflict was so severe that it led to the shelling of Lahaina by whalers, Lahaina is located at 20°53′10″N 156°40′29″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 9.3 square miles, of which 7.8 square miles is land and 1.5 square miles

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Maui Land & Pineapple Company
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Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. was a subsidiary of Maui Land & Pineapple Company Inc, and was the United States’s largest grower, processor, and shipper of Hawaiian pineapples. MPC had existed for a century, based in Maui, Hawaii, United States, the company was the last producer of Maui-grown pineapple, from 1909 to 2009. The Maui Gold variety was introduced to the market by MPC in 2005 and it is naturally sweet with a low acid content. Maui Gold is sold in Hawaii and the USA mainland, in both the West Coast and Midwest markets, Maui Gold Organic reached the market in melons. Maui Pineapple Company used field rotation, cover crop, and fallow time to manage sustainable agriculture, MPC fields were being evaluated for diversified crops, including taro and other tropical crops. The company used an Integrated Pest Management system to reduce pesticides, the company has ceased planting pineapples on Hawaii. Once the currently planted crops are harvested, there will be no more commercial cultivation of pineapples after a century on the Islands, Maui Pineapple Company originated from the holdings of the family of missionary physician Dwight Baldwin. It began in 1909 as the Keahua Ranch Company and it became the Maui Pineapple Company in 1932. In 1962, it merged with Baldwin Packers, in 1969, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. incorporated Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. as its subsidiary devoted to agricultural operations. The company owned a multi-purpose processing facility in Kahului, Maui, the facility also provided refrigerated storage, freight consolidation and warehousing to the greater Maui farming and agricultural community. Maui Pineapple Companys headquarters were located in Kahului, Maui with a division, Kapalua Farms, located near Kapalua Resort. Maui Pineapple Company was shut down at the end of 2009, a group of former investors formed the Haliʻimaile Pineapple Company and bought the assets of Maui Pineapple and licensed the Maui Gold trademark. The new company kept 65 of the old employees, and will concentrate on local markets, the Kapalua Farms organic pineapple operation was taken over by Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development, backed by investor Pierre Omidyar in early 2010. Maui Pineapple Official web site Maui Land & Pineapple Official Site ML&P Yahoo Finance Page

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The Nature Conservancy
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The Nature Conservancy is a charitable environmental organization, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. Its mission is to conserve the lands and waters on all life depends. The Conservancys work focuses on the priorities of Lands, Water, Climate, Oceans. Founded in Arlington, Virginia, in 1951, The Nature Conservancy now impacts conservation in 69 countries, the Conservancy has over one million members, and has protected more than 119,000,000 acres of land and thousands of miles of rivers worldwide. The Nature Conservancy also operates more than 100 marine conservation projects globally, the organizations assets total $6.71 billion as of 2015. The Nature Conservancy is the largest environmental nonprofit by assets and by revenue in the Americas, the Nature Conservancy rates as one of the most trusted national organizations in Harris Interactive polls every year since 2005. Forbes magazine rated The Nature Conservancys fundraising efficiency at 88 percent in its 2005 survey of the largest U. S. charities, the Nature Conservancy is led by President and CEO Mark Tercek, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs. He is the author of the Washington Post and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling book Nature’s Fortune, How Business, the Nature Conservancys Chief Scientist is Australian Hugh Possingham, who was named to this position in 2016. The current board chairman is Craig McCaw, the Chairman & CEO of Eagle River Inc, other current members include former U. S. Senator Bill Frist, chairman of the Alibaba Group Jack Ma, the Nature Conservancy developed out of an older organization known as the Ecological Society of America. The latter society was founded in 1915 and two later formed a Committee on Preservation of Natural Areas for Ecological Study, headed by Victor Shelford. The divide in viewpoints led the society to dissolve the committee, the latter group eventually took the name The Nature Conservancy, in emulation of the British agency of that name, which pursued a mission of conserving open space and wildlife preserves. The Nature Conservancy was incorporated in the United States as an organization on October 22,1951. The Nature Conservancy takes an approach to conservation, setting goals that describe the results it wants to achieve for biodiversity. The Nature Conservancy sets both long-term and near-term goals for conserving the abundance and geographic distribution of species and ecological systems. The organizations overall goal is to ensure the survival of all biodiversity on Earth. The Nature Conservancy works with all sectors of society including businesses, individuals, communities, partner organizations, the Nature Conservancy has pioneered new land preservation techniques such as the conservation easement and debt for nature swaps. A conservation easement is a way for owners to ensure that their land remains in its natural state while capitalizing on some of the lands potential development value

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Hawaii hotspot
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The Hawaii hotspot is a volcanic hotspot located near the namesake Hawaiian Islands, in the northern Pacific Ocean. Four of these volcanoes are active, two are dormant, and more than 123 are extinct, many having since been ground beneath the waves by erosion as seamounts and atolls. The chain extends from south of the island of Hawaiʻi to the edge of the Aleutian Trench, while most volcanoes are created by geological activity at tectonic plate boundaries, the Hawaii hotspot is located far from plate boundaries. According to this theory, the nearly 60° bend where the Emperor, ancient Hawaiians were the first to recognize the increasing age and weathered state of the volcanoes to the north as they progressed on fishing expeditions along the islands. The volatile state of the Hawaiian volcanoes and their constant battle with the sea was an element in Hawaiian mythology, embodied in Pele. 1912 marked the founding of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory by volcanologist Thomas Jaggar, in the 1970s, a mapping project was initiated to gain more information about the complex geology of Hawaiis seafloor. In its at least 85 million years of activity the hotspot has produced an estimated 750,000 km3 of rock.01 km3 per year to about 0.21 km3, tectonic plates generally focus deformation and volcanism at plate boundaries. This mid-plate volcanism builds peaks that rise from relatively featureless sea floor, initially as seamounts, Plate tectonics cause the local tectonic plate to slowly slide over the hotspot, carrying its volcanoes with it without affecting the plume. Over hundreds of thousands of years, the supply for the volcano is slowly cut off. No longer active enough to overpower erosion, the volcano slowly sinks beneath the waves, as the cycle continues, a new volcanic center manifests, and a volcanic island arises anew. The process continues until the mantle plume itself collapses, another consequence of his theory is that the chains length and orientation serves to record the direction and speed of the Pacific Plates movement. This part of the theory has recently challenged, and the bend might be attributed to the movement of the hotspot itself. A mantle plume would initiate at the interface when the lower layer heats a portion of the cooler upper layer. This heated, buoyant, and less-viscous portion of the layer would become less dense due to thermal expansion. When the mantle reaches the base of the lithosphere, the plume heats it. This magma then makes its way to the surface, where it is erupted as lava, another hypothesis is that melting anomalies form simply as a result of lithospheric extension, which allows pre-existing melt to rise to the surface. These melting anomalies are called hotspots in plume theory, but this name pre-supposes the mantle source is unusually hot, in the case of the Emperor-Hawaiian seamount chain, the Pacific plate boundary system was very different at ~80 Ma, when the Emperor seamount chain began to form. There is evidence that the chain started on a ridge that has now been subducted at the Aleutian trench

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Hawaii (island)
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Hawaiʻi is the largest island located in the U. S. state of Hawaii. It is the largest and the southeastern-most of the Hawaiian Islands, with an area of 4,028 square miles, it is larger than all of the other islands in the archipelago combined and is the largest island in the United States. However, it only has 13% of Hawaiis people, the island of Hawaii is the third largest island in Polynesia, behind the two main islands of New Zealand. The island is referred to as the Island of Hawaiʻi. Administratively, the island is encompassed by Hawaiʻi County. As of the 2010 Census the population was 185,079, the county seat and largest city is Hilo. There are no incorporated cities in Hawaiʻi County, Hawaiʻi is said to have been named after Hawaiʻiloa, the legendary Polynesian navigator who first discovered it. The name is cognate with Savaii, the name of the largest island of Samoa, cook was killed on the Big Island at Kealakekua Bay on 14 February 1779, in a mêlée which followed the theft of a ships boat. Hawaiʻi was the island of Paiʻea Kamehameha, later known as Kamehameha the Great. Kamehameha united most of the Hawaiian islands under his rule in 1795, after years of war, and gave the kingdom. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 5,086 square miles. The countys land area comprises 62.7 percent of the land area. It is the highest percentage by any county in the United States, in greatest dimension, the island is 93 miles across and has a land area of 4,028 square miles comprising 62% of the Hawaiian Islands land area. Measured from its sea floor base to its highest peak, Mauna Kea is the worlds tallest mountain, taller than Mount Everest is, the Island of Hawaiʻi is built from five separate shield volcanoes that erupted somewhat sequentially, one overlapping the other. Geologists now consider these outcrops to be part of the building of Mauna Loa. Another volcano which has disappeared below the surface of the ocean is Māhukona. Because Mauna Loa and Kīlauea are active volcanoes, the island of Hawaii is still growing, between January 1983 and September 2002, lava flows added 543 acres to the island. Lava flowing from Kīlauea has destroyed several towns, including Kapoho in 1960, in 1987 lava filled in Queens Bath, a large, L-shaped, freshwater pool in the Kalapana area

22.
Mauna Loa
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Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U. S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume, Mauna Loa has historically considered the largest volcano on Earth. Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, Mauna Loa has probably been erupting for at least 700,000 years, and may have emerged above sea level about 400,000 years ago. The oldest-known dated rocks are not older than 200,000 years, the volcanos magma comes from the Hawaii hotspot, which has been responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian island chain over tens of millions of years. The slow drift of the Pacific Plate will eventually carry Mauna Loa away from the hotspot within 500,000 to one years from now. Mauna Loas most recent eruption occurred from March 24 to April 15,1984, no recent eruptions of the volcano have caused fatalities, but eruptions in 1926 and 1950 destroyed villages, and the city of Hilo is partly built on lava flows from the late 19th century. Because of the hazards it poses to population centers, Mauna Loa is part of the Decade Volcanoes program. Mauna Loa has been monitored intensively by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory since 1912, observations of the atmosphere are undertaken at the Mauna Loa Observatory, and of the Sun at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, both located near the mountains summit. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park covers the summit and the flank of the volcano, and also incorporates Kīlauea. Like all Hawaiian volcanoes, Mauna Loa was created as the Pacific tectonic plate moved over the Hawaiian hotspot in the Earths underlying mantle. The Hawaii island volcanoes are the most recent evidence of this process that, the prevailing view states that the hotspot has been largely stationary within the planets mantle for much, if not all of the Cenozoic Era. However, while the Hawaiian mantle plume is well-understood and extensively studied, Mauna Loa is one of five subaerial volcanoes that make up the island of Hawaiʻi, created by the Hawaii hotspot. The oldest volcano on the island, Kohala, is more than a years old, and Kīlauea. Lōʻihi Seamount on the flank is even younger, but has yet to breach the surface. Since then, the volcano has remained active, with a history of effusive and explosive eruptions, although Mauna Loas activity has been overshadowed in recent years by that of its neighbor Kīlauea, it remains active. Mauna Loa is the largest subaerial and second largest overall volcano in the world, covering an area of 5,271 km2. Consisting of approximately 65,000 to 80,000 km3 of solid rock, the shield-stage lavas that built the enormous main mass of the mountain are tholeiitic basalts, like those of Mauna Kea, created through the mixing of primary magma and subducted oceanic crust. Mokuʻāweoweos caldera floor lies between 170 and 50 m beneath its rim and it is only the latest of several calderas that have formed and reformed over the volcanos life, additionally, two smaller pit craters lie southwest of the caldera, named Lua Hou and Lua Hohonu

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Mauna Kea
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Mauna Kea, is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Standing 4,207 m above sea level, its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii, much of the mountain is under water, when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over 10,000 m tall. Mauna Kea is about a years old, and has thus passed the most active shield stage of life hundreds of thousands of years ago. In its current post-shield state, its lava is more viscous, Mauna Kea last erupted 6,000 to 4,000 years ago and is now considered dormant. In Hawaiian mythology, the peaks of the island of Hawaiʻi are sacred, an ancient law allowed only high-ranking aliʻi to visit its peak. Ancient Hawaiians living on the slopes of Mauna Kea relied on its extensive forests for food, when Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, settlers introduced cattle, sheep and game animals, many of which became feral and began to damage the mountains ecological balance. With its high elevation, dry environment, and stable airflow, since the creation of an access road in 1964, thirteen telescopes funded by eleven countries have been constructed at the summit. The Mauna Kea Observatories are used for research across the electromagnetic spectrum from visible light to radio. Their construction on a landscape considered sacred by Native Hawaiians continues to be a topic of debate, Mauna Kea is one of five hotspot volcanoes that form the island of Hawaii, the largest and youngest island of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain. Of these five volcanoes, Mauna Kea is the fourth oldest and it began as a preshield volcano driven by the Hawaii hotspot around one million years ago, and became exceptionally active during its shield stage until 500,000 years ago. Mauna Kea entered its quieter post-shield stage 250,000 to 200,000 years ago, Mauna Kea does not have a visible summit caldera, but contains a number of small cinder and pumice cones near its summit. A former summit caldera may have been filled and buried by later summit eruption deposits, Mauna Kea is over 3,200 km3 in volume, so massive that it and its neighbor, Mauna Loa, depress the ocean crust beneath it by 6 km. The volcano continues to slip and flatten under its own weight at a rate of less than 0.2 mm per year, much of its mass lies east of its present summit. Mauna Kea stands 4,205 m above sea level, just 35 m higher than its neighbor Mauna Loa, measured from its base on the ocean floor, it rises over 10,000 m, significantly greater than the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level. Like all Hawaiian volcanoes, Mauna Kea has been created as the Pacific tectonic plate has moved over the Hawaiian hotspot in the Earths underlying mantle. The Hawaii island volcanoes are the most recent evidence of this process that, the prevailing, though not completely settled, view is that the hotspot has been largely stationary within the planets mantle for much, if not all of the Cenozoic Era. However, while Hawaiian volcanism is well-understood and extensively studied, there remains no definite explanation of the mechanism causes the hotspot effect. Lava flows from Mauna Kea overlapped in complex layers with those of its neighbors during its growth, most prominently, Mauna Kea is built upon older flows from Kohala to the northwest, and intersects the base of Mauna Loa to the south

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Kohala
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Kohala is the oldest of five volcanoes that make up the island of Hawaii. Kohala is a one million years old—so old that it experienced, and recorded. It is believed to have breached sea level more than 500,000 years ago, Kohala is 606 km2 in area and 14,000 km3 in volume, and thus constitutes just under 6% of the island of Hawaii. Kohala is a shield volcano cut by deep gorges, which are the product of thousands of years of erosion. Unlike the typical symmetry of other Hawaiian volcanoes, Kohala is shaped like a foot and this huge landslide may be partially responsible for the volcanos foot-like shape. Marine fossils have found on the flank of the volcano. Analysis indicated that the fossils had been deposited by a massive tsunami approximately 120,000 years ago, invasive species introduced by man present a problem to Kohalas ecosystem, as they push native species out of their habitat. There are several initiatives to preserve Kohalas ecosystem, crops, especially sweet potato, have been harvested on the Leeward side of the volcano for centuries as well. The northern part of the island is named after the mountain, King Kamehameha I, the first King of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was born in North Kohala, near Hawi. Studies of the volcanos lava accumulation rate have put the age at somewhere near one million years. It is believed to have breached sea level more than 500,000 years ago, decreasing eruptions combined with increasing erosion caused Kohala to slowly weather away and subside into the ocean. The oldest lava flows that are exposed at the surface are just under 780,000 years old. It is difficult to determine the size and shape of the volcano, as the southeast flank has been buried by volcanic lava flows from nearby Mauna Kea. Geologists estimate that the volcano was once about twice its current size, the volcano is so old that it experienced, and recorded, a reversal of magnetic polarity that happened 780,000 years ago. Fifty different flow units in the top 140 m of exposed strata in the Pololu section are of normal polarity, indicating that they were deposited within the last 780,000 years. Radiometric dating ranged mostly from 450,000 to 320,000 years ago, although several pieces strayed lower, Kohala was devastated by a massive landslide between 250,000 and 300,000 years before present. Debris from the slide was found on the floor up to 130 km away from the volcano. Twenty kilometers wide at the shoreline, the cut back to the summit of the volcano

25.
Kahoolawe
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Kahoʻolawe is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Kahoʻolawe is located seven miles southwest of Maui and also southeast of Lanai. The highest point on Kahoʻolawe is the crater of Lua Makika at the summit of Puʻu Moaulanui, more than one quarter of Kahoʻolawe has been eroded down to saprolitic hardpan soil. Kahoʻolawe has always been populated, due to its lack of fresh water. During World War II, Kahoʻolawe was used as a training ground, after decades of protests, the U. S. Navy ended live-fire training exercises on Kahoʻolawe in 1990, and the whole island was transferred to the jurisdiction of the state of Hawaii in 1994. The Hawaii State Legislature established the Kahoolawe Island Reserve to restore and to oversee the island, today Kahoʻolawe can be used only for native Hawaiian cultural, spiritual, and subsistence purposes. The U. S. Census Bureau defines Kahoʻolawe as Block Group 9, Census Tract 303.02 of Maui County, Kahoʻolawe is an extinct shield volcano, which formed during the Pleistocene epoch. Most of the island is covered by lava flows. A caldera is located in the part of the island. The caldera is now infilled by lava or is hidden underwater in Kanapou Bay, the last volcanic activity on the island occurred about one million years ago. Sometime around the year 1000, Kahoʻolawe was settled by Polynesians, Puʻu Moiwi, a remnant cinder cone, is the location of the second-largest basalt quarry in Hawaii, and this was mined for use in stone tools such as koʻi. Originally a dry forest environment with intermittent streams, the changed to an open savanna of grassland and trees when inhabitants cleared vegetation for firewood. Hawaiians built stone platforms for religious ceremonies, set rocks upright as shrines for successful fishing trips and these indicators of an earlier time can still be found on Kahoʻolawe. While it is not known how many people inhabited Kahoʻolawe, the lack of freshwater probably limited the population to a few hundred people. As many as 120 people might have lived at Hakioawa, the largest settlement. Violent wars among competing aliʻi laid waste to the land and led to a decline in the population. During the War of Kamokuhi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruler of the Big Island of Hawaii, raided and pillaged Kahoʻolawe in an attempt to take Maui from Kahekili II. From 1778 to the early 19th century, observers on passing ships reported that Kahoʻolawe was uninhabited and barren, food and water were scarce, some prisoners reportedly starved, and some of them swam across the channel to Maui to find food

26.
Kauai
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For the Childish Gambino EP see STN MTN / Kauai Kauaʻi or Kauai is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of 562.3 square miles, it is the fourth largest of these islands, known also as the Jurassic Isle, Kauaʻi lies 105 miles across the Kauaʻi Channel, northwest of Oʻahu. This island is the site of Waimea Canyon State Park, the United States Census Bureau defines Kauaʻi as census tracts 401 through 409 of Kauaʻi County, Hawaiʻi, which comprises all of the county except for the islands of Kaʻula, Lehua and Niʻihau. The 2010 United States Census population of the island was 67,091, the most populous town was Kapaʻa. Hawaiian narrative locates the origin in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa. The story relates how he named the island of Kauaʻi after a favorite son, another possible translation is food season. Kauaʻi was known for its dialect of the Hawaiian language. While the standard language today adopts the dialect of Hawaiʻi island, which has the sound, in effect, Kauaʻi dialect retained the old pan-Polynesian /t/, while standard Hawaiʻi dialect has changed it to the. Therefore, the name for Kauaʻi was said as Tauaʻi. Kauaʻis origins are volcanic, the island having been formed by the passage of the Pacific Plate over the Hawaii hotspot, at approximately six million years old, it is the oldest of the main islands. The highest peak on this island is Kawaikini at 5,243 feet. The second highest peak is Mount Waiʻaleʻale near the center of the island,5,148 feet above sea level, one of the wettest spots on earth, with an annual average rainfall of 1,170 centimetres, is located on the east side of Mount Waiʻaleʻale. The high annual rainfall has eroded deep valleys in the central mountains, at 3,000 feet deep, Waimea Canyon is often referred to as The Grand Canyon of the Pacific. Kokeo Point lies on the side of the island. The Na Pali Coast is a center for recreation in a setting, including kayaking past the beaches. The headland, Kuahonu Point, is on the south-east of the island, Kauaʻi’s climate is tropical, with generally humid and stable conditions year round, although weather phenomena and infrequent storms have caused instances of extreme weather. At the lower elevations the annual precipitation varies from an average of about 50 inches on the windward shore, average temperature in Lihue, the county seat, ranges from 78 °F in February to 85 °F in August and September. Kauaʻi’s mountainous regions offer cooler temperatures and provide a pleasant contrast to the coastal areas

27.
Lanai
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Lānaʻi is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain. It is also known as Pineapple Island because of its past as a pineapple plantation. The islands only settlement of note is the town of Lānaʻi City. As of 2012, the island was 98% owned by Larry Ellison, Lānaʻi is a roughly comma-shaped island with a width of 18 miles in the longest direction. The land area is 140.5 square miles, making it the 42nd largest island in the United States and it is separated from the island of Molokaʻi by the Kalohi Channel to the north, and from Maui by the ʻAuʻau Channel to the east. The United States Census Bureau defines Lānaʻi as Census Tract 316 of Maui County and its total population shrank from 3,193 as of the 2000 census to 3,102 as of 2010. Many of the landmarks are accessible only by dirt roads that require a four-wheel drive vehicle. There is one school, Lanai High and Elementary School, serving the island from kindergarten through 12th grade. There are no lights on the island. Lānaʻi was under the control of nearby Maui before recorded history and its first inhabitants may have arrived as late as the 15th century. The name Lānai is of uncertain origin, but the island has historically been called Lānaʻi o Kauluāʻau and this epithet refers to the legend of a Mauian prince who was banished to Lānaʻi for some of his wild pranks at his fathers court in Lāhainā. The island was haunted by Akua-ino, ghosts and goblins. Kauluāʻau chased them away and brought peace and order to the island, during most of those times, the Moʻi of Maui held dominion over Lānaʻi, but generally left the people of Lānaʻi alone. Life on Lānaʻi remained relatively calm until King Kamehameha I or Kalaniʻōpuʻu-a-Kaiamamao took control, so many were killed that Captain George Vancouver ignored the island in 1792, because of its apparent lack of villages and population. It is mentioned that Lānaʻi was Kamehamehas favorite fishing spot across Hawaiis main eight islands, Lānai was first seen by Europeans on February 25,1779, when Captain Charles Clerke sighted the island from aboard James Cooks HMS Resolution. Clerke had taken command of the ship after Cook was killed at Kealakekua Bay on February 14 and was leaving the islands for the North Pacific, by the 1870s, Walter M. Gibson had acquired most of the land on the island for ranching. Prior to this he had used it as a Mormon colony, in 1899, his daughter and son-in-law formed Maunalei Sugar Company, headquartered in Keomuku, on the windward coast downstream from Maunalei Valley. Many Native Hawaiians continued to live along the less arid windward coast, in 1922, James Dole, the president of Hawaiian Pineapple Company, bought the island and developed a large portion of it into the worlds largest pineapple plantation

28.
Molokai
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Molokaʻi or Molokai, often called the Friendly Island, is an island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It lies east of Oʻahu across the 25-mile wide Kaiwi Channel and north of Lānaʻi, the island has been known both for developments by Molokai Ranch on much of the island, for pineapple production, cattle ranching and tourism. Residents or visitors to the west end of Molokaʻi can see the lights of Honolulu on Oahu at night, they can view nearby Lānaʻi and Maui from anywhere along the south shore of the island. In Kalawao County, on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the north coast, settlements were established in 1866 for quarantined treatment of persons with leprosy, the Kalaupapa National Historical Park now preserves this entire county and area. Molokaʻi developed from two shield volcanoes known as East Molokaʻi and the much smaller West Molokaʻi. The highest point is Kamakou on East Molokaʻi, at 4,970 feet, today, East Molokaʻi volcano, like the Koʻolau Range on Oʻahu, is what remains of the southern half of the original mountain. The northern half suffered a collapse about 1.5 million years ago. What remains of the volcano on the island include the highest sea cliffs in the world, the south shore of Molokaʻi boasts the longest fringing reef in the U. S. and its holdings—nearly 25 miles long. Molokaʻi is part of the state of Hawaiʻi and located in Maui County, except for the Kalaupapa Peninsula, Maui County encompasses Maui, Lānaʻi, and Kahoʻolawe in addition to Molokaʻi. The largest town on the island is Kaunakakai, which is one of two ports on the island. Molokai Airport is located on West Molokaʻi, the United States Census Bureau divides the island into three census tracts, Census Tract 317 and Census Tract 318 of Maui County, Hawaii, and Census Tract 319 of Kalawao County, Hawaii. The total 2010 census population of these was 7,345, Molokaʻi is separated from Oʻahu on the west by the Kaiwi Channel, from Maui on the southeast by the Pailolo Channel, and from Lānaʻi on the south by the Kalohi Channel. Molokaʻi is split into two geographical areas. The low western half is very dry and the soil is heavily denuded due to land management practices. It lacks significant ground cover and virtually the entire section is covered in non-native kiawe trees, one of the few natural areas remaining almost intact are the coastal dunes of Moʻomomi, which are part of a Nature Conservancy preserve. The eastern half of the island is a plateau rising up to an elevation of 4,900 ft on Kamakou peak. The eastern half is covered with wet forests that get more than 300 in of rain per year. The high-elevation forests are populated by native ʻōhiʻa lehua trees and an extremely diverse endemic flora, much of the summit area is protected by the Nature Conservancys Kamakou and Pelekunu valley preserves

29.
Penguin Bank
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Penguin Bank is the name given to a now-submerged shield volcano of the Hawaiian Islands. Its coral-capped remains lie immediately west of the island of Molokaʻi, the Penguin Bank volcano is part of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. Penguin Bank is about 20 miles long and 10 miles wide, the site coordinates are, NW, NE, SW, and SE. Plans to build wind turbines on Penguin Bank were called off in April 2009

30.
East Molokai Volcano
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The East Molokai has a width of 70 km and a length of 150 km. It is overlapped by the West Molokai, Lanai and Haleakalā shield volcanoes and its shield formation began two million years ago and ended 1.5 million years ago whereas its postshield eruptions occurred 1.5 to 1.3 million years ago. The pahoehoe shield volcano of the Kalaupapa Peninsula postdates the main volcano of East Molokai and is considered to represent the last volcanic phase of East Molokai. East Molokai was one of the seven principal volcanoes along with West Molokai, Lānaʻi, West Maui, East Maui, Penguin Bank, the highest point is the peak called Kamakou on the southern rim at 21°6′23″N 156°52′5″W. The Pēpēʻōpae bog is just below the rim, the northern flank of the volcano has been truncated by enormous cliffs rising 900 metres from the sea. The sea cliffs were formed when the third of the East Molokai Volcano suddenly collapsed and slid off into the sea. The landslide was so fast and powerful that it extended 190 kilometres into the sea, petrology, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry of the East Molokai Volcanic Series, Hawaii

31.
Niihau
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Niʻihau is the westernmost and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaiʻi. It is 17.5 miles southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel and its area is 69.5 square miles. Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland habitats for the Hawaiian coot, the black-winged stilt, the island is designated as critical habitat for Brighamia insignis, an endemic and endangered species of Hawaiian lobelioid. The United States Census Bureau defines Niʻihau and the island and State Seabird Sanctuary of Lehua as Census Tract 410 of Kauai County. Its 2000 census population was 160, Its 2010 census population was 170, elizabeth Sinclair purchased Niʻihau in 1864 for $10,000 from the Kingdom of Hawaii and private ownership passed on to her descendants, the Robinson family. During World War II, the island was the site of the Niʻihau Incident, A Japanese navy fighter pilot crashed on the island, the people of Niʻihau are known for their gemlike lei pūpū craftsmanship, and speak Hawaiian as a primary language. The island is generally off-limits to all but relatives of the owners, U. S. Navy personnel, government officials and invited guests. Beginning in 1987, a number of supervised activity tours. The island is managed by brothers Bruce Robinson and Keith Robinson. Niʻihau is located about 18 miles west of Kauaʻi, and the tiny, Niʻihaus dimensions are 6.2 miles by 18.6 miles. The maximum elevation is 1,280 feet, the island is about 4.9 million years old, making it geologically younger than the 5-million-year-old neighboring island of Kauaʻi to the northeast. Niʻihau consists of one extinct volcano that had a landslide to the east. The island is relatively arid because it lies in the shadow of Kauaʻi. Niʻihau therefore, depends for its rain on winter Kona storms, as such, the island is subject to long periods of drought. As an arid island, Niʻihau was barren of trees for centuries — Captain James Cook reported it treeless in 1778, island co-owner Keith Robinson, a noted conservationist, preserved and documented many of Niʻihaus natural plant resources. The island is designated as a habitat for the ʻōlulu. Aylmer robinsonii, a Pritchardia palm tree named for Keith Robinsons uncle Aylmer Robinson, is a species native to Niʻihau. Several bird species thrive on Niʻihau, intermittent playa lakes on the island provide wetland habitats for the ʻalae keʻokeʻo, the āeʻo, and the koloa maoli

32.
Oahu
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Oʻahu or Oahu /oʊˈɑːhu/, known as The Gathering Place, is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to about two-thirds of the population of the U. S. state of Hawaii, the state capital, Honolulu, is on Oʻahus southeast coast. Along with the rest of the Hawaiian Islands, Oahu is one of the largest and northernmost islands of Polynesia, in the greatest dimension, this volcanic island is 44 miles long and 30 miles across. The length of the shoreline is 227 miles, the island is the result of two separate shield volcanoes, the Waiʻanae and Koʻolau Ranges, with a broad valley or saddle between them. The highest point is Kaʻala in the Waiʻanae Range, rising to 4,003 feet above sea level, the island was home to the Kunia Regional SIGINT Operations Center from 1941 to 2012, it is now home to the National Security Agencys Hawaii Cryptologic Center. The island is home to 953,207 people in 2010, Oʻahu has for a long time been known as the Gathering Place. The term Oʻahu has no confirmed meaning in Hawaiian, other than that of the place itself, ancient Hawaiian tradition attributes the names origin in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. The story relates that he named the island after a son, residents of Oʻahu refer to themselves as locals, no matter their ancestry. The city of Honolulu—largest city, state capital, and main deepwater marine port for the State of Hawaiʻi—is located here. As a jurisdictional unit, the island of Oʻahu is in the Honolulu County, although as a place name. Well-known features found on Oʻahu include Waikīkī, Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, Kāneʻohe Bay, Kailua Bay, being roughly diamond-shaped, surrounded by ocean and divided by mountain ranges, directions on Oʻahu are not generally described with the compass directions found throughout the world. Locals instead use directions originally using Honolulu as the central point, to go ewa means traveling toward the western tip of the island, Diamond Head is toward the eastern tip, mauka is inland and makai toward the sea. Oʻahu is also known for having the longest rain shower in history, kaneohe Ranch, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi reported 247 straight days with rain from August 27,1993 to April 30,1994. The island has many one of them being rainbow state. This is because rainbows are a sight in Hawaiʻi due to the frequent rain showers. The average temperature in Oʻahu is around 70 to 85 degrees, the weather during the winter is cooler, but still warm with the average temperature of 68-78 degrees. The windward side is known for some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, lanikai Beach on the windward coast of Oʻahu has been consistently ranked among the best beaches in the world. The 300-year-old Kingdom of Oʻahu was once ruled by the most ancient aliʻi in all of the Hawaiian Islands, the first great king of Oʻahu was Mailikukahi, the lawmaker, who was followed by many generation of monarchs

33.
Waianae Range
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Waiʻanae Range is the eroded remains of an ancient shield volcano that comprises the western half of the Hawaiian Island of Oʻahu. Its crest, at Kaʻala, is the highest peak on Oʻahu at 4,025 feet. Like the neighboring Koʻolau, the Waiʻanae Range is not a range in the sense most people are familiar with. The oldest lava dated from the volcano are about 3.9 million years old, about 3.2 million years ago, the volcanos activity changed, the rate of eruption started to decrease and the composition of the lava erupted from the volcano changed. The volcano is thought to have last erupted about 2.5 million years ago, when active, the Waiʻanae volcanos center of activity was at present-day Lualualei Valley. Intense erosion on the flank of the mountain has destroyed much of those flanks. Thus, the mountain today is smaller than it was when the volcano was active. While the western part of the mountain has been destroyed by erosion and this is considered somewhat strange by some geologists since the western part of the volcano is on the leeward side of the island, thus, most rain falls on the eastern side of the volcano. Given this information, more erosion would be expected on the portion of the mountain. One theory to explain this pattern is that a large landslide cut away the western portion of the volcano. The faults from this huge landslide weakened the rock, making the part of the mountain much more susceptible to erosion than the eastern side

34.
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
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The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or the Leeward Islands are the small islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest of the islands of Kauai and Niihau. They are part of the U. S. state of Hawaii except Midway Atoll, in the state of Hawaii, they are part of Honolulu County. The United States Census Bureau defines this area as Census Tract 114.98 of Honolulu County and its total land area is 3.1075 square miles. All the islands except Nihoa are north of the Tropic of Cancer and it represents the southwestern part of the islands former volcanic cone. Ancient Hawaiians might have stayed here long-term, 40-acre Necker Island is hook shaped and 270 feet tall at its summit. Barren of vegetation, it was used by Ancient Hawaiians for religious purposes, French Frigate Shoals is an atoll, the largest region of coral reefs in Hawaii, at 200 square miles. The atoll is composed of a dozen or so islands, Tern Island housing an airport. Gardner Pinnacles is made up of two small peaks, the last rocky island in Hawaii. While the island itself is tiny, the reef is expansive. 166-square-mile Maro Reef is an extremely fertile reef system that has described as a coral garden. Laysan is a 913-acre, low, sandy island with a lake in its interior. It has arguably the most diverse ecosystem in the NWHI, Lisianski Island, only 400 acres, is geologically akin to Laysan, without the lake. Though the island is slightly less biodiverse, the reef is very fertile. Pearl and Hermes Atoll is an very similar to French Frigate Shoals. For this reason, it was ignored by guano miners. Midway Atoll is the most commonly known of the NWHI, and is also the largest, circular Kure Atoll contains the 236-acre Green Island, which used to host a LORAN station and a runway, but these have since been demolished. In terms of biodiversity, Kure is one of the less impressive of the NWHI, as the Pacific Plate moved north and later northwest over the hot spot, volcanic eruptions built up islands in a linear chain. The isolated land masses gradually eroded and subsided, evolving from high islands in the south, much like the Main Islands of Hawaii, each of the NWHI are in various stages of erosion

35.
French Frigate Shoals
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The French Frigate Shoals is the largest atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Its name commemorates French explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse, who nearly lost two frigates when attempting to navigate the shoals and it consists of a 20-mile long crescent-shaped reef, twelve sandbars, and the 120-foot high La Perouse Pinnacle, the only remnant of its volcanic origins. The total land area of the islets is 61.508 acres, total coral reef area of the shoals is over 232,000 acres. Tern Island, with an area of 26.014 acres, has a landing strip and it is maintained as a field station in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The French Frigate Shoals are about 487 nautical miles northwest of Honolulu, the Hawaiian island chain lay outside the routes followed by early European explorers, and it was not until La Pérouses near-disastrous discovery that the shoals were known to the outside world. La Pérouse, aboard the frigate Boussole, was sailing westward from Monterey en route to Macau, during the night of 6 November 1786, sailors sighted breakers directly in their path, about a thousand feet ahead. Both the Boussole and her vessel, the frigate Astrolabe, were immediately brought about. At daybreak, the returned and mapped the southeastern half of the atoll. La Pérouse named the shoals Basse des Frégates Françaises, the Shoal of the French Frigates, during the late 19th century, American and European companies became interested in the possibility of mining guano in the Hawaiian Islands. The Republic did not formally claim possession of the shoals until 13 July 1895, French Frigate Shoals was included among the islands acquired by the United States on 7 July 1898, when Hawaii became a United States territory. In 1909 it was made a part of the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation, in the aftermath of that attack, US Pacific Fleet Commander Chester W. Nimitz ordered a permanent US Navy presence at the shoals.014 acres. The stations main function was as a landing site for planes flying between Hawaii and Midway Atoll. French Frigate Shoals Airport comprises what remains of the seawall, runway. A LORAN station was operated on East Island until 1952, in 1969 a tsunami devastated the islands. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service continues to maintain a permanent field station there, in 2000, the atoll became part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, which was incorporated into the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument in 2006. In 2009 the islands were evacuated during the approach of Hurricane Neki, La Perouse Pinnacle, a rock outcrop in the center of the atoll, is the oldest and most remote volcanic rock in the Hawaiian chain. La Perouse Pinnacle stands 120 feet tall and is surrounded by coral reefs. Because of its shape, the pinnacle is often mistaken for a ship from a distance

Figure 1. Vertical arrows show the topographic prominence of three peaks on an island. The dashed horizontal lines show the lowest contours that do not encircle higher peaks. Curved arrows point from a peak to its parent.